Before attempting any sort of treatment for back pain you should always speak to your doctor first as many back conditions can present with similar symptoms but may be treated differently. Once you have your diagnosis your options for treating your back pain may be any of the following:

Non Surgical Treatments:  When it comes to treating back pain such as rest, medication, and modifying your daily activities. All of these can go a long way at reducing back pain and are all things that can be easily done in the comfort of your own home.

For that extra bit of pain reduction you can try ice or heat therapy for back pain, ice can be used to reduce pain, swelling, and limits blood flow to the injured area and heat therapy can be used to reduce pain, increase joint mobility and bring blood into the area to help promote healing. If you are using heat therapy you will want to make sure that you do

Back Pain

Back Pain & Treatments plan

not have any swelling in the area as it will make it worse.

You will also want to look to the future, by keeping your back healthy, strong and flexible you can reduce your chances of back pain later on down the road. When you are able to, you should incorporate physical activities into your daily life.

Performing activities such as Yoga for back pain, Pilates or even Gyrotonics can be used to help condition not only your back but your entire body. If you find these types of exercise hard on your joints you can do water exercises; these would be very similar to anything you might do on land but because you are in the water they are low impact and less stressful on the joints of your body.

Or if you prefer you can substitute the above exercises with cycling, walking, treadmills, elliptical machines, or recumbent bicycles. You will want to stay away from anything that is high impact such as running, jogging or anything that may impact your back in a negative way.

Pain Management Techniques : These are treatment options that can be used to manage pain when oral medications are failing to reduce it. The most common type would be an epidural steroid injection into the back which can be administered if you suffer from a herniated disc, degenerative disc disease, Spondylolisthesis, osteoarthritis, or spinal stenosis.

If you are just treating a back sprain or strain you can use something called a trigger point injection which helps to reduce pain and swelling in the muscles of your back and can be done on single or multiple sites.

Surgery for Back Pain: This should always be your very last option once all other types of treatment have been exhausted. Surgery is never 100% and it is possible that you may still have pain after your operation. If you feel that this is your last option and you would like to know what types of surgery can be done it is best that you speak to a spine surgeon or your doctor.

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